Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu charged that the Palestinians were abusing the sanctity of the Temple Mount to incite the Arab world against Israel, moments before he boarded an airplane Tuesday for New York where he plans to address the UN General Assembly on Thursday.

“Israel wants to be at peace with the Palestinians but to our sorrow they continue to spread crude lies about our policy on the Temple Mount,” said Netanyahu.

Although the eyes of the international community are focused on Iran, Syria and ISIS, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Netanyahu plan to speak about the stalled peace process when they address the plenum in separate speeches on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

The Quartet will be also be meeting in New York on Wednesday to discuss ways to jumpstart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process which has been frozen since April 2014.

Tensions between Palestinians and Israelis have been particularly high during the holiday period, which has been marked by clashes on the Temple Mount, including on Sunday and Monday.

Since the site was closed to Jewish visitors at the time, Israel has since explained that the reasoning is clearly not the issue of whether Jews should be able to enter the area.

Palestinians have warned that Israel is attempting to change the status quo in the Temple Mount compound that houses the Al-Aksa Mosque and is under the authority of the Islamic Wakf.

“Israel is committed to and preserves the status quo,” said Netanyahu.

“It is the Palestinian rioters who bring weapons and pipe bombs to the [mosque area]. They are the ones who are harming the sanctity of the place [the Temple Mount] and disturbing its status quo,” said Netanyahu.